CP 18 Stellar Graveyard Flashcards
The maximum mass of a white dwarf is ___________.
about 1.4 times the mass of our Sun
What is an accretion disk?
a disk of hot gas swirling rapidly around a white dwarf, neutron star, or black hole
The more massive a white dwarf, the _________.
its raduis
smaller
The white dwarf that remains when our Sun dies will be mostly made of ______.
carbon
A typical white dwarf is as massive as_______
but only about as large in size as______
Sun , Earth
What would happen if a white dwarf gained enough mass to reach the 1.4 solar-mass white dwarf limit?
The white dwarf would explode completely as a white dwarf supernova.
Pulsars are thought to be __________.
rapidly rotating neutron stars
A typical neutron star is more massive than our Sun and about the size (radius) of __________.
a small asteroid (10 km in diameter)
How big is Earth in comparison to a neutron star?
A lot bigger
What is a neutron star
the remains of a star that died in a massive star supernova (if no black hole was created)
What is the event horizon of a black hole?
It is the point beyond which neither light nor anything else can escape.
What is the basic definition of a black hole?
an object with gravity so strong that not even light can escape
The Schwarzschild radius of a black hole depends on __________.
only the mass of the black hole
Based on current understanding, the minimum mass of a black hole that forms during a massive star supernova is roughly __________.
3 solar masses
